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wytchey asked in Science & MathematicsZoology · 1 decade ago

Do Any Species Other Than Humans Have Pets?

I don't mean where a species directly has a practical use for a host eg the birds on prairie animals or small fish on shark, but do any other species "keep" another purely for pleasure?

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's overwhelmingly symbiosis/parasitism being observed rather than companionship - you could say that farming has given rise to sympathy for animals [as opposed to wild scavenging dogs become trusting and then domesticated] and so people keep pets, and only a creature with a conscience would do that...

    My favourite's the honey badger and it's guide.

    Ants & aphids should just get a room.

  • 1 decade ago

    About the polar bears and sled dogs... The individual in Churchill who breeds those dogs uses them as bear bait so he can sell photo opportunities. Unfortunately, many of the dogs are killed by the polar bears...that part is just edited out of the films and videos. This is a very dangerous situation, not only for the dogs, but for the people who live in the residential area that he lures the bears to...and in turn, the bears.

    Source(s): personal communication with Canadian wildlife conservation personnel
  • 1 decade ago

    feral children have been found to be raised by animals...also youtube of kitten and the crow shows are mother/child relationship between an unusual pair. i think normally this happens as mother animals find a baby animal in need of help. most baby mammals share traits that distinguish themselves as babies and can inspire a maternal instinct in other species. for example, baby mammals tend to have large eyes and heads in relation to their body and their cries induce female hormones in sexually mature female animals that inspire care. jessica the hippo (also on youtube) is a wild animal that has "adopted" a family as she is free to come and go and enjoys sleeping with the family dogs at night.

  • 1 decade ago

    Only in captivity. Koko the gorilla is well known to have pet kittens. A captive baboon in a zoo in Jerusalem also adopted a stray kitten, but it was so protective of the kitten that it won't let the kitten go away to eat or drink.

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    No animals play together animals benifit because of one another and animals sometimes raise each other accidentaly but animals dont have pets

    Source(s): ijb
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    well one time a saw a documentary about a lioness that protected and tried to care for a baby orax that was orphaned and in the program they mentioned something about pets.

    Source(s): film the heart of an lioness.
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Race horses usually have "pets". They tend to do better in races if their pet dog, bunny, etc. travels with them.

  • 1 decade ago

    my dog mothered several rabbits when we had her a few years ago before she died, and she never ate them either, and other people have told me they had the same thing.

  • 1 decade ago

    polar bears and huskies. theres a video. search.

    Source(s): seen it.. polar bear playing with husky. i want a polar bear!
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